It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person
by captain awsome pants
Summary: Just before her moment of triumph Tenten was trapped within the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Now that's she stuck within an illusion world tailored to her wants and needs, can she resist and find a way out? Or will she withdraw into the illusion and become the heroine she always wanted to be? A Retelling and Expansion on Road to Tenten.
1. I wake up in Pig Tails

Tenten awoke with a violent start. She threw her sheets aside as she was plunged unprepared into consciousness. Her heart gave a few powerful pumps, and she gasped in a measure of air. She felt as if she was waking from some terrible nightmare. Of course the truth of the matter was that she'd awoken from a terrible reality.

Her legs and arms drove her from her sleeping position, and propelled her to her feet. With a schocked gasp she shouted. "I've got to save everyone!" It was only at this announcement that she was able to break herself out of her daze and observe her surroundings. Which were familiar enough, but entirely wrong. Just a few minutes ago, or what felt like just a few minutes ago at least. She was on a battlefield. Filled with rubble, debris, comrades, and most regrettably the dead. Now she was in a location which hosted more weaponry than even a battlefield could hold; her room.

She gave a confused glance around her room. An ornate sword and fan set perfectly on stands. A bookshelf with meticulously organized scrolls and books. A large calligraphy poster on the opposite wall. And three long sets of shelves filled with all sorts of the trinkets and gadgets she'd managed to collect from her time as a ninja. Everything was perfectly in place, except for her.

As good as it felt to be back home, and strangely enough back in her pajamas, it wasn't right. She should be back on the battlefield with her friends and allies.

She risked a leap from her bed onto the floor. She sighed as she felt her feet connect with the cool wood of her floor, and made a quick pace to her balcony. It only took a quick glance out the window for her to reconize her home town, in all it's familiar splendor. Her suspicions were confirmed. She was miles away from the battlefield. Miles away from where she could be of use, miles away from where she was needed.

She spun around and faced her room. The morning sun had cleansed the sleep from her eyes, and she now noticed the scroll sprawled across her floor. Her heart leapt for what must have been the third time on this short morning, and scooped it up into her hands. With a well practiced maneuver she unrolled the scroll. The sight of her three newest tools met her eyes.

Bashosen, the banana fan. A fan capable of summoning all five elements.

Kohaku No Johei, The Amber Purifying Pot. A Large jar able to trap any target within itself.

And Benishisago, The crimson Gourd. A gourd capable of sucking in people's souls.

It was a pretty good line up, she had to admit. Which made it all the more relieving that she still had the scroll with her. Had it been lost to her miles away on the battlefield any hope she had at saving everyone was going to fly right out the window. She clutched the scroll in her hand and held it to her chest. A quick sigh slid out from her lungs, and through her lips. She still had this, and they still had a chance.

There are only a handful of people who'd ever gotten dressed as quickly as Tenten did on that morning. In no time at all she was out of her PJ's, out of her pigtails, and back into her usual outfit. She slid the scroll into the folds of her psuedo-kimono and dashed out the door. She needed to find some transportation ASAP. She needed to get back to her friends before they were wiped out. She just needed an hour or so to herself to figure out her new toys. There was no one on the planet how knew Ninja tools as well as Tenten did. Now she was in possession of three of the most powerful tools there were. This was her time.

This is when she became a legendary Kunochi.

This is when she was going to save everyone.

Xxx

Slow start. Antics begin next chapter, more to come.


	2. Multi-Universe Theory Fries my Brain

Tenten found herself out and about in the village once more. She allowed herself a few brief moments to take in the smells and sounds of her home. Despite the fact that she wasn't even supposed to be here everything just seemed like it was a sort of homecoming for her. Everyone seemed so happy, so jovial. As if there was no war, as if there wasn't any death. The thought entered her mind, and was quickly followed up by a pain in her heart. The faces of friends and comrades she'd lost on the field flooded in. Primary among them was Neji. Just the thought of him brought a squeezing pain to her chest.

She pushed the unpleasant images away and set her mind on her current mission. Better to face what's in front of you than deal with what's behind you.

Which was easier said than done. For some reason coming across any shinobi within the village was proving to be difficult. She knew that things were tight with the war, but this wasn't right. Though it might just have been her own mistake rather than any comment on the lax security around the village. Every turn around every corner there was some pleasant distraction that drew her attention from her current mission. A pleasant smell would cause her head to turn towards a bakery, or a group of children run in front of her, and keep her tied up for a few seconds. After each encounter Tenten found she'd have to shake herself out of some sort of daze that would fall over her. It must have been a side effect of the Teleportation jutsu that was used on her.

"Tenten there you are!" A chill ran up Tenten's spine, and she spun around. Surprised that someone had managed to find her before she found them. Her surprise only doubled when she realized it was Lee's voice who'd called out to her. Her surprised levels finally hit their ceiling when she was actually able to take in the spectacle that was Lee and Guy Sensai.

On their best of days the two of them were... eye-catching to say the least. Everything about the two of them was absurd. Their haircuts, their eyebrows, the hideous green jumpsuits that the two of them wore. She loved the two of them with all of her heart, but going out in public with them was more often than not a mortifying experience. That wasn't even taking into account the way they acted.

Today however the two of them seemed, perfectly presentable. Board shorts, button up shirts, they even had their normally ridiculous bowl cuts styled into something half way decent. It was a surprising change of pace that she was in no way ready for. "L-Lee." Her words came stumbling out of her mouth, not at all hiding the surprise she felt at their appearance. "Guy sensei, you two were teleported here too?" She felt like it was polite not to mention their appearance. She'd find a way to casually slide it in during conversation. Wouldn't want to be rude...

Focus Tenten!

She mentally slapped herself, redoubling her focus on the matter of hand. She had weapons from a god capable of instantly sealing any enemy away within them forever. There was a battle raging in a far off land, and she needed to get there. That was the goal. She opened her mouth to present these facts to team, though she knew it would be pointless. Knowing the two of them they were more than twice as anxious to get back into the thick of things. "Listen I..."

Of course the minute she opened her mouth Lee opened his. "Like a newly appeared comet, I am Rock Lee the fashion trendsetter of The Hidden Leaf Village!" He held his open hand to his heart and slid in real close to her, sharing a familiar space that the two of them were comfortable with.

Tenten caved for a brief moment and allowed herself a small smile. It was more of Lee's usual antics, but it was good to see him being his normal goofy self.

The brief moment of warm familiarity was immediately broken by Guy Sensei. "Nothing!" He shouted in the same voice he usually used to chastise lee. For a brief and glorious second Tenten actually believed that he was trying to get them to focus on the issue on hand.

"What was wrong with it?" Lee demanded, obviously proud of his introduction.

With a grand gesture Guy repeat the same move that Lee had just performed. It was grander, and more elaborate, but Tenten was considerably less comfortable with his proximity. "A true trendsetter elicits those reactions from others, not himself. Grownup act in a cooler manner Lee."

As always Lee took this critique in stride, closing his hands into fists. "You're Right! I'll be more careful for now on!"

Then in unision the two of them struck a stylish pose. "More stylish!" The both shouted in unision, winking at Tenten and giving her a thumbs up.

Well that was the straw that broke the Tenten's back. "Alright hold it you two." Someone had to be the grown up in this group, and it certainly wasn't going to be Guy Sensai. "What are you two up to at a time like this?"

Lee gave her a befuddled look. "Like this?"

Dense.

"We're in the middle of a war!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Great they had her acting like sakura now. She always hated it when the pink hair girl lost her cool on her teammates. Mostly because it reminded Tenten so much of herself. She crossed her arms and took in a breath of air, calming herself. "This is no time to be goofing around." This time the words came out calm, sturdy, and stern. Better.

"What are you talking about?"

Guy rubbed the back of his head, and gave Tenten a funny look. "If you're talking about The Third Great Ninja War, that's been over for quite a while."

Great now she was the one acting like a fool here. "This is serious business you two, you need to snap out of it. This is no time to be playing the fool."

Lee's look went from befuddled to confused, to full on concern. "From where we're standing you're the one who needs to snap out of it." His words were tinted with caution, apparently just as confused by Tenten as she was with him.

This more than anything else gave Tenten a moment of pause. Before this moment she was chalking everything up to the two of them acting weird. Now though... With the teleportation, and her room. There was something wrong going on here. Her brow furrowed, pieces were starting to be put together.

Until her train of thought was suddenly broken. An occurrence which was starting to begin with annoying frequency. A voice rang up from a nearby rooftop. "He's right Tenten you need to open your eyes." Tenten's ears perked up involuntarily, that voice was familiar. Wonderfully, impossibly familiar.

Tenten gasped and spun around to face the source of the voice. If it was anything less than what she was expecting she would of have been crushed. It if was what she was expecting, well that might have been worse. Nevertheless it was what she was expecting, or rather who.

Neji was perched on a nearby rooftop staring down upon his team with those pale eyes. Though he was a small distance away Tenten could tell that he was exactly as she remembered him. Every line, every edge. She couldn't believe her eyes, her ears. Anything. Her guts had that familiar feeling, as if someone were squeezing them in their hands. His face, his eyes he didn't have any signs of the Resurrected that they'd been fighting. He was well and truly alive. She tried to open her mouth and sputter out some coherent response, but nothing came. At best she was able to open up her mouth, and stare agape. How does one react when their best friend has come back to them. Tenten certainly didn't know the answer that. She knew she felt lighting up her spine. There was fire in her lungs. A cold icy feeling circulating somewhere around her stomach. She knew and felt all of these things with such certainty that this couldn't possibly be an illusion.

"You always wear such boring Sports bras! You need to wear some sexier underwear!"

Hello red flag, my name is Tenten.

"Huh, Sports Bra?" Tenten didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking abou... She suddenly noticed the bundle of veins popping out from Neji's temples. Which usually pointed to... Oh. My. God. Tenten let out a girlish squeal covered herself with her arms, and crouched into a ball. "What's going on?" She demanded indignantly.

Even with all the madness that was going on it seemed that there was still a little decency in this world. Lee came to her defense. "That was totally uncool Neji!" He shouted putting himself between The Kunochi and the Huuyga. "You have no sense of style."

Neji crossed his own arms suddenly the indignant one. "You're the one who's so concerned with fashion Lee. It should be your concern much more than my own!"

The two of them devolved into general yelling, the type boys do when they're trying to get an edge over each other. None of this was right. Nothing had been right since she woke up. Maybe even before that. She didn't remember going to sleep. Was this all a...

"What's going on here?" Came a girl's voice. Tenten scrunched her brow and rose to her feet. The elusive strands of thought slipping through her fingers with yet another appearance. The newest characters to walk in on this Fever dream of a day were Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke.

Sasuke.

Tenten's hands grabbed a hold of great clumps of her brown hair and held them tight. Saskue? "What's going on?" She moaned miserably.


	3. I'm Dinning With Genjutsu

Tenten was the eye of a Hurricane. She was the calm amidst the storm. She was the one bastion of Sanity amidst a sea of lunacy. She was the only thing which was true about the world she found herself in now.

She'd admit that initially this world had managed to fool her into thinking that it was real. It was incredibly realistic. However Madaraa's attempt at replicating her friends and comrades was... Cartoonishly terrible, to say the least. She knew that she was no great user of Genjutsu, but come one. Even she recognized the phony friends before her.

Currently it was her, and the other members of the Konoha 11, erm... Twelve, if you count Sasuke. All of them hanging out in their usual BBQ joint, just shooting the breeze. It was nice, for an illusion. She knew it would have been nice to just numb herself to the strangeness of them. She also knew that, that was the purpose of it all. So no matter how nice these fakes acted towards her, she had to remember: they were doing it all for the enemy.

Tenten sat in what would have been her usual spot at the table... were this reality. She had what her real self would have ordered out on a plate in front of her, rapidly growing cold. Her soft brown eyes drifted around the table to from person to person, analyzing. Her mind might be home in a semi-convincing illusion, but her body was still out on the battlefield. She mustn't forget, she was still at war. She noted how her friends were the same, how they were different. They would turn against her if she reacted against the illusion too violently, that was a given. She'd have to think up a way to defeat everyone at this table, if worse came to worse. It was something she'd never thought she'd have to do. Except for Sasuke. She'd been prepared to take him out since he first left the village. Currently her chopsticks were ready to be flicked from her finger tips, straight into those special eyes of his. Which was a shame, because he was kind of cute when he wasn't being a megalomaniac.

Tenten supposed that she wouldn't find the illusions so offensive, if they weren't so wildly inaccurate to their real world counterparts. You already know of a few of the phonies and just what's wrong with them. Lee, for instance. His normal energy and passion was still there it just seemed focused on fashion, and being a 'cool guy'. He was much more socially graceful, much more concerned with the way he behaved in the public eye. Tenten felt almost guilty to admit that it's the type of behavior she'd always wished to see in Lee. It was horrible, but she had to admit that it was nice to not being hanging her head in embarrassment at one of his outbursts.

You already know what's wrong with Neji. For the most part 'living' isn't usually something you'd use to negatively describe a person, let alone a friend. Yet here we were. Neji was one of the most important people in the world to her. She still hadn't been able to grapple with his death, and knew it would haunt her for months at least. But if there was one thing she'd learned from fighting an army of reanimated ninja, it was that the dead should stay that way. Especially if they came back like this. Nobody was the same in this world, but Neji's change hurt Tenten most of all. Probably because it was him with whom she was closest. The Neji she knew, the Neji she was close with was a lot more reserved. Cool, Quite, Mature. Too put it nicely he wasn't a complete pervert, and borderline sexual predator. Maybe not even borderline, after that debacle with his Byakugan earlier.

"Still Neji that really was not cool, you should apologize to Tenten. Peeping on her was a major breach of trust." Lee had been lecturing Neji like this off and on throughout the meal.

Tenten gave Lee a small, but warm smile. It was nice to know that even in this world Lee had her back, like always. At least while she played along with the fantasies.

Of course not everything about her friends were different here. Neji was as pig headed as ever. He ardently defended himself from all of Lee's attacks. "I was only trying to discipline her. A ninja of the hidden leaf village should really hold herself to a higher standard." Yeah, not cool Neji.

No matter where you were sitting at the table you could see the vein in Hinata's forehead bulge out in anger, and she wasn't even using the Byuakugan. "Always making excuses for yourself Neji. I swear if I ever hear you pulling a stupid stunt like this again, I'll rip your eyes out. Remember that." Hinata who was sitting right next to Neji held two of her fingers out and brought them uncomfortably close to Neji's eyes.

No, you're not mistaken. That was Hinata's mouth that just produced those words. No, you're remembering Hinata right. Tall Girl, dark long hair? White pupiless eyes? Can't get two sentences out of her mouth without blushing in embarrassment? Very conservative dresser? Yeah, no. Same person here, in theory. The Hinata of this world however was kicked flipped all the way upside down. Her lavender colored jacket which was normally zipped right up to the top was unzipped and hanging loose. Underneath she wore the ugliest mesh bra top. Which compared to Tenten's own very cute sports bra, well. If Neji was going to put anyone on blast it really shouldn't have been Tenten. Though looking at this world's Hinata She couldn't blame him. She was an aggressive fiery little thing. She sat with her legs spread open if that told you anything. She was bold and confident, the complete opposite of the shy reserved Hinata that she knew. Plus Cut off jean shorts.

"Rip my eyes out?" Neji stuttered. "That's a really mean Joke to tell Lady Hinata." Neji laughed nervously, and tried to shift away from Hinata.

At Hinata's threat Sakura gave a little shudder and curled up next to Naruto. "What an awful threat. I just don't know what I'd do if something like that happened." Tenten was having a hard time pinning down what was wrong with sakura. She usually wasn't so clingy to Naruto, but she did recall her acting like this around Saskue all those years ago. Other than a new Crush this sakura seemed to be like the one Tenten knew.

"Hey!" Hinata barked grabbing a hold of Naruto's other arm. "Don't use this situation to get closer to Menma behind my back!" Oh right. Naruto was called Menma in this universe. Tenten's eyes traced over Naruto... Menma. She wasn't even sure she was ready to tackle what was going on there. He was cool, calm, collected, and utterly uninterested in the attention of the two Kunoichi.

Sakura only tightened her grip on 'Menma.' "He doesn't welcome your kind of attention. Shoo!" This only led to the two of them devolving into a verbal fight, and doing everything but coming to blows.

Tenten Sighed, and looked down at her half eaten plate of food. It tasted the same as back home... She looked up from her plate. How could one place be so perfectly similar, and so completely different all at once? Shikamaru was a Gluttonious Idiot, Choji was thin as a rail, Kiba was a cat fanatic, and Shino was chasing after a bug with a fly swatter. Why bother with the illusion at all if you're going to make it this obvious. There must have been something about them not being perfect recreations. Maybe they...

"Tenten." A soft voice cut through Tenten's thoughts better than Hinata or Sakura's yelling. Tenten turned her head to Face her dining neighbor, Ino. This Ino was rocking the Cute Shy girl look. Her long hair was styled to hide most of her face behind her bangs. She abandoned her belly shirt, for a conservative button up. Even her short shorts were replaced by a long skirt. Other than Lee this change was the most agreeable to Tenten. Beyond that ego and pretense she knew that the real Ino was a good person and friend. There were just a lot a barriers getting in the way. This Ino however had none of that. She was like a Gem perfectly cut from stone. "You've hardly eaten anything Tenten are you alright?"

No. "Yes. Yes I'm just not hungry tonight." She put her hand into the folds of her outfit and pulled out enough Ryo to cover her share of the meal. "Thanks for the food." She announced standing to her feet.

Ino reached a shy hand to grasp ahold of Tenten's. "Are you sure you're alright? It's not like you to leave early." Tenten's steady brown eyes stared into Ino's wavering blue ones. Genuine concern was glistening in those orbs. Concern enough to make Tenten's stomach churn with confusion. How genuine could an Illusion's concern be?

Tenten caught her breath and lightly pulled he hand away. She affected a smile. She couldn't have them knowing she was on to them. "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." She gave a long fake yawn. "I think I'm going to head to my house for a nap."

"Okay. Well, sleep well."

Tenten nodded. "I'll miss you being like this Ino. Thanks for caring." She gave the mousy girl's shoulder a squeeze and wandered out of the restaurant. She returned a few of the farewells from the fakes, and did her best not to smile at the Blush rising up Ino's face.

Tenten didn't head far. Instead she just ducked into the nearest alley. She'd entertained this Illusion long enough, it was time to get out of here. She'd been storing up her chakra for the last hour or so. She was ready to send it all out in one blast. Something strong enough to send her consciousness skyrocketing into the waking world.

She felt the weight of her scroll against her chest. They still needed her out there.

She held her hands together, focused her chakra, and sent it out in a burst. A perfect Genjutsu Release. As far as execution went at least. If you went by results only, then it was a complete flop. She groaned in frustration and tried it several more times. All of which ended with her still being trapped within her own mind.

This was bad news. Beyond what she'd just done, Tenten really didn't have any additional knowledge on Genjutsu. If the release didn't work, then nothing she had would. She'd be stuck in here for... as long as Madara willed it. A disheartening prospect indeed.

But Tenten was never the sort to give up. Never. She was a student of Might Guy. There was no one on the planet who knew how to work harder than he did. He took a rag tag group of losers, and turned them into one of the top squads in the leaf village. She was his disciple, the real one. Not one of those phonies in this world. She was going to learn all she could about Genjutsu, and then she was going to get out. She was going to become a legendary Kunochi. She was going to save everyone!


	4. Apparently I'm Friends With Ino

Question 1: How does one get around being a hoarder, while also being a complete neat Freak?

Answer: You learn how to store objects within paper, like our Dear Tenten.

Question 2: How do you get out of this Genjutsu?!

Tenten wasn't the sort of person to hold onto things for sentimental reasons. She had her memories and that was enough for her. However if she thought that something could be of use later, she usually held on to it. Her ultra tighty room would have been a much different sight if she wasn't as good at sealing as she was. She had a scroll for storing just about everything you could imagine in her room. She'd even managed to convert her walk-in closet into a fancy dressing room, with all the space she'd saved on hanger space. A whole wardrobe in a single scroll, not too bad. Even if it was just a dozen copies of the same outfit.

So with a very good organization system it was a simple matter for Tenten to break out all of her old text books from the academy. She had a note book, three pens, and a pack of pink highlighters ready to go. Not to mention half a dozen textbooks on general ninja basics. Referencing all mentions on Genjutsu here was going to take hours, and if she still couldn't find what she needed. She was just going to have to move her operation over to the library.

She cracked that first textbook open and went to work, turning straight for the index. Thus far she'd been drinking in this worlds content in from a firehouse. It was very nice to get a quite moment to herself. She wasn't the most social person even when knew her friends weren't working for the enemies. This moment to just sit down with her thoughts and no interruptions was a blessing. She'd always been the brains of Team Guy, and it was time to show why.

She ripped through her first text book in a little over an hour. Mercilessly she scoured it's pages for even the most minute mentioning of Genjutsu. She highlighted what she could, jotted down vital information on her notepad, and book marked the page for later. She did this again and again, until the book had nothing left to teach her. It was just a basic book so it didn't have any deep insight into her foe, but it was a good place to start. She set aside the heavily annotated book, and began work on her second one.

she wasn't able to get far into this one before her doorbell was rung. She gritted her teeth, and rose to her feet. She knew the blissful peace could only last for so long. This world was going to throw interruption after interruption in her way until she caved to it's desires. Better get rid of this one fast and then get back to work. She had five more texts to get through, and little time for leisure. She was at least grateful for the knowledge that time within a Genjutsu went by faster than events in the real world. Hopefully the lethargic pace she was unraveling this mystery at, wouldn't impact things significantly.

She made her way to the front door, where the doorbell was giving a second ring. Before she opened up the door Tenten cast her gaze to her Umbrella holder which had no less than three weapons in it, and only one was disguised as an umbrella.

She cracked the door open and saw Shy Ino waiting patiently on the other side of her door. tenten sighed inwardly, both out of relief and annoyance. She let the door open up the rest of the way. "Hey there."

Ino gave Tenten a small smile as raised up a takeout box, as if in offering. "I had them pack the rest of your meal. It seemed like a waste to leave it. Choji even gave the rest of his meal to you." She raised a hand up to her mouth, and leaned in conspiratorially "That's practically an entire meal on it's own."

"Um thanks." Tenten took hold of the box. "I'm surprised he didn't gobble up both our meals instead." She smiled at her own joke, and looked to Ino to see if she'd gotten it or not.

She obviously didn't because a confused look was plastered on her face. "Why would he do that? That isn't like him at all."

Tenten could have punched herself. "Oh Right!" She chirped giving a guilty smile. "I forgot that he was skinny." Wait that sentence was garunteed to cause more confusion. Get out of there Tenten! "Anyway thanks for the food. That was..." God she hated to admit it. "Very thoughtful of you Ino, you're a good friend."

Ino blushed deeply at the complement. "You just seemed like something was bothering you today. I just wanted to let you know, that we're all here for you if you need us."

'That's exactly what my problem is.' Tenten couldn't say those words out loud, but it was true. "I'm fine, but thanks." She made it clear that the conversation was over, but Ino just stood there awkwardly. Either she wasn't picking up on Tenten's que, or she had something else she wanted to say. After a few uncomfortable seconds Tenten made a face and began closing the door. She didn't like dealing with socially awkward people in real life, there was no way she was going to put up with it here.

But before the door could close Ino's voice managed to find itself. "Can we talk?" The sentence was blurted out, and probably didn't contain nearly as much decorum as Ino was hoping for. Still it did it's job and Tenten's door stopped before it could fully creak closed.

Tenten rolled her eyes behind the safety of her door, and opened it back up. "We have been." She said, not entirely cruelly.

Any ice in Tenten's voice was lost on Ino who was nervously pulling strands of hair in front of her face. "Privately I mean."

'No you're not real. Your emotions are fake. You're a hostile Illusion I'm trapped in. you'd turn Agilent me the moment I was a threat. I can't trust you, I can't trust you, I can't trust you.' Any of those would have been good reasons to say no, but for some reason those big blue eyes were wearing Tenten down. Seriously Ino in this world was like a wounded puppy with a big pink bow around it's neck. She couldn't just turn her away!

Tenten hefted out a sigh, and opened up her door all the way. "Sure, I've got a few minutes." This might be handy actually. Who knows what knowledge of this world she could gleam from a simple one on one conversation.

Ino eagerly accepted the invitation and skittered on inside, she headed straight for Tenten's room like she'd been in her house a thousands times before. Which she most definitely hadn't. At least not that Tenten knew of. She made sure that she was close to behind, best not to leave anything to chance. Ino entered into Tenten's room, and plopped herself down oh-so-familiarly on Tenten's neatly set room.

Tenten entered as well and closed the door behind her. You know, for privacy. Her eyes traced around the room. There was a weapon within reach no matter where she placed herself in the room. Ino wasn't going to be a threat on her best days, but there was no telling what tricks might go down. Always prepare for the worse. For the moment she leaned against her closed door, and crossed her arms. 'So what do you want to talk about?' Tenten was able to ask the question by raising a single eyebrow.

Ino blushed and turned her face away looking around the room for a distraction. Her eyes landed on Tenten's uncharacteristically crowded desk. "What are you working on?" The curiosity in her voice was only made more prominent by her slowly standing to her feet to investigate.

Tenten was between ino and the desk in an instantly. A little too quickly actually. Ino's curious gaze crusted over with a hint of suspicious, as she craned her neck to get a look around Tenten. Tenten puffed out a cheek and tried to swallow her sudden outrage. "I'm just working on a new jutsu." She let out a guilty laugh to add to the act. "It's kind of complicated so I'm trying to keep it under-wraps until I get it to work." She looked into Ino's azure eyes, as Innocent and pupilless as Hinata's. The light bulb went off insider her head. "Now stop stalling and tell me what's on your mind."

Ino blushed and sat herself down. Her eyes once more darted around the room. "Well um..." Bingo. Tenten knew how to handle the shy ones. "I was wondering if you talked to Lee." Her normally pale skin was approaching the same shade as one might find on a tomato.

"About what?"

Again Ino had most of her face hidden behind her blonde hair. "Tenten! You said you'd talk to him for me! About..." She swallowed hard. "About going out with me."

This world was weird.

"Oh Right." Tenten banged a fist onto her open palm, pretending like she'd remembered whatever fake conversation this fake woman was talking about. "I just think it's weird asking someone out for another person. It's very Academy."

Ino was clearly hurt by her chiding but managed to push through it. "You know how shy I am! I'd just die if he said no." Alright shy Ino was pretty cute, Tenten smiled as tilted her head to the side, taking a good look as the blushing, steaming Ninja in front of her. "Maybe you could offer to go on a double date. Then it wouldn't be like you were asking him for me."

Tenten sighed. "Who would I gout out with then?" Part of it was a genuine curious question, part of it was just to see what Ino knew. What this world was like. It was a simple question, but it could be very telling.

"You could ask Menma."

Tenten stopped herself from asking who that was, before she remember the stoic Naruto from lunch. Tenten's heart jumped. She'd admit it, she had a small crush on Naruto. It was a quite, and private longing which she had carefully cultivated in the dark. No one, but no one, knew that she liked Naruto, no matter how little it was. It was everything Tenten could do from causing her mouth to go agape. How had Ino known?

Genjutsu doesn't mean you can read minds!

Ino giggle quietly. "Don't even try to act like you don't want to."

"I don't!" Tenten shouted indignantly.

"Pfft. You're always gushing about him." Ino flopped back on Tenten's bed and stifled a giggle. She cleared her throat and tried to copy Tente's voice."Oh Menma is soooo cool. He's so quite what do you think he's thinking about? Do you think he'd let me study the seal on his stomach?"

"I don't even sound like that." How dare this world mock her with conversation she's never even had. She pushed aside the fact that Ino knew a secret she had no way of knowing. If she knew that, well it was a disturbing idea to think of what else might be floating out in the Aether now.

"I'm just saying, I can't ask him out for you, that's a little Academy."

Tenten shot her a friendly, if annoyed glare. "I liked you better when you were quite."

Ino smiled. "Come on Tenten, it's easy to ask out your crush.

Tenten wasn't even sure Naruto was her crush. She wasn't sure any guy was. Sure Naruto was cute. She would not deny that. He had those dreamy blue eyes, and cute blonde hair. Still she wasn't the type to fall head over heels for anyone with a cute smile. She was too focused for that, too mature. Beside Naruto was a total goofball. Not her type at all. "Well it is when that Hinata is always hanging around him."

Ino shivered. "No kidding. She'd freak if you asked him out."

"It might be worth it just to see her reaction."

"I'll say kind things at your funeral." They both gave each other grave looks, before breaking into giggles.

Tenten had never really had a girlfriend before. For the most part she'd always been drowning in the sea of testosterone that was Team Guy. She never minded, she loved her team. They were like brothers to her, and to be honest she was probably like a brother to them too. So it was nice to get to talk boys with someone. She was just surprised that it was with Ino. Tough now that she was thinking about it she wasn't particularly close with any of the females of her group. A ping in guilt ran through her. Sad that she never expressed what the freindship they shared truly meant to her. She made a not to make that a priority of hers after she saved the world.

But first she had to save the world.

Tenten steeled her heart, and swallowed down the ribbons of joy she felt in Ino's company. "I'll think about it okay?" She moved towards the door, and trusted ino enough not to spring towards Tenten's desk. "I'm sorry to kick you out like this, but I've got a long night ahead of myself."

Ino frowned, and sadly got to her feet? "You don't want to hang out?" Tenten had seen three legged kittens that looked less pathetic than Ino in that moment. Tenten just wanted to pick her up and put her in her pocket.

No no no. Not real not real. Get out of there. "We'll hang out later, I promise. Just not today. And I promise I'll ask Lee out for you."

Ino nodded her understanding, and made her way for the door. The sad look on her face was temporarily mended, and just before she was out of the room, she turned towards Tenten and smiled. "But only if you ask Menma out too."

Tenten slapped herself on the forehead and sighed. "who's doing who a favor here?"

xxxx

OTP? LeeTen.

However In Road to Tenten her dream realm paints Menma in a very favorable light. Which sort of leads me to believe that Tenten has a thirst for Naruto. XD


	5. I Revolt

The room was a battlefield. The corpses of books, and scrolls laid scattered around the room. They were specked with bright pink highlighter marks, like seeping wounds. Pages were torn from texts and pinned to the wall like severed limbs. The once clean and pristine plains of Tenten's room were a messy grave, for no one was coming to collect the dead.

There was only one survivor, Tenten herself. The one woman army.

Bags hung under her eyes, highlighter, and papercuts covered her fingers. On her desk was a manila folder, containing all of the useful information she'd gathered from her books, and a bottle of food pills. Real people were dying on the other side of this Illusion, sleep was not something Tenten could afford to waste time with. She'd already thrown away too much.

It wasn't for nothing through. The hours of research it'd all paid off. Ocular Jutsu, that was her next lead. It was a subject too advanced for her books, she'd needed to visit her local library.

She left her room behind, normally the mess would be abhorrent to her, but nothing about any of this was normal. She stepped over tossed pages, and crumbled up notes. She didn't bother changing her outfit she'd worn the day before, and all night. She was as determined as she was filthy.

This was war

And war is nothing without combatants.

This morning the combatants in Tenten's war were familiar faces, if not familiar people.

Lee and Neji, or at the very least the shades that wore their faces were waiting for her outside of her apartment. Not in an overtly hostile way. They wore smiles, and didn't seem to have a single weapon on them. But they were here to do her harm.

Tenten's muscles were coiled tightly, as they had been the whole time she'd been in this world. She felt like she was a watch that was getting wound tighter, and tighter, and tighter. She'd been fighting a war long before she came to this world, and she was starting to feel it. "What are you two doing here?" She growled in a way she would have never at her real friends.

They both flinched. The two of them looked like they had a full night's sleep, and a good bath. Fresh. Good for them. "W-we're." Lee paused, and tried to keep himself from stumbling. "We're training today, and we came to pick you up." He forced a smile over his concerned frown.

Neji simply frowned.

Oh they looked so concerned. "I'm so flattered!" Tenten huffed, before cracking her knuckles. "Well don't waste your time." Oh they were such good friends, wanting to train with Tenten. Steal her away from her escape was more like it. They would like nothing more than to keep her trapped in here for all eternity.

Neji's frowned deepened, concerned lines running through his face. "Why are you acting so strange lately?"

Lee got close to her and raised his hand toward her forehead. "Have you caught a cold?"

"Don't touch me." Tenten slapped the hand away, and stumbled backwards. "I'm done being friendly to you things. I'm getting out of here."

Lee gripped his hand sadly, more out of surprise then pain. "What about our training?"

Tenten stomped off, but shouted over her shoulder. "Allow me to make something clear for you two. I'm not going on any more missions, or training with you anymore." With that she exited the conversation, and led herself down the dusty roads of her Illusionary town. Behind her the defeated shades of Neji and Lee moped away, as dejectedly as two fakes could possibly look.

Our heroine allowed a small smile to rise up her tired lips. All the distractions were gone, now she could dedicated herself to destroying this illusion.

Xxx

It was a battle who's victory did not last for long.

By the time she reached the library, there they were. Already waiting for her. She knew she shouldn't have stopped for a cup of coffee. Still the fact that they knew where she was going, and had gotten there before he was more than a little disturbing. "You guys don't give up do you?" Tenten puffed out her chest, and tried to look like she wasn't exhausted. It was so early in the morning, and she was so tired. "Didn't you hear me earlier?"

Her two friends… the Illusions of her two friends, they looked calm. Happy almost. Even after her tongue lashing. "We did hear you!" Lee clenched his fist and held it over his heart. Why was he always so earnest? "That's why we're here now!"

Neji nodded, and looked to Lee. "Are you ready Lee?"

"Let's do it Neji!"

The two of them slapped their open palms on the side of their pants. The two of them bent at their hips, and gave Tenten a deep and emotional bow. Their eyes were looking straight at the ground, and from them emitted a great aura of regret, with a faint aroma earnestness.

They held the pose for what seemed like an eternity before they shouted in unison "Please forgive us."

Tenten flew back in shock, and held her hand to her chest, as if she was having a heart attack. "W-w-what?" She glared at them, just as confused as a girl could be. What were they getting at? If they were trying to get her away from the library it wasn't working. Still they looked so sincere, it was hard to be mad at them.

Then from the shadows three new forms surrounded her. Inoshikacho, and her team mates had her covered on all four sides. They all wore those same genuine smiles. She looked from Neji, to Choji, to Shikamaru, to Ino.

Oh she needed to ask Lee if he wanted to go on a date with Ino. She almost forgot.

"They really mean it Tenten." Choji had his arms crossed, and looked sterner than he ever looked in her world.

"For sure!" Shikamaru chuckled. "They're really sorry."

"Come on Tenten, they didn't mean to hurt you." Ino looked so excited to be helping.

"We're sorry Tenten!" Her team mates shouted once again.

Tenten's heart was beating, this was so stupid. She looked to each of the people surrounding her, they were so concerned about her. Too conconcerened. No one had really cared about her in the real world. She always faded into the back ground, no one made a fuss about her. Not like this. Maybe Lee. Maybe Neji, but that was all. She wasn't sad about it, it's hard to get mad about facts.

Suddenly all of this concern? This out pouring of emotion? For her? No way.

Look at them, surrounding her like animals. Just as she was about to get to the library, why? What were they hiding? This group was one step shy of being a mob. They were begging her to forgive her team mates, to give into the fantasy, to be obliterated.

As if.

They wanted her to be invested, to love them, to feel for them, to care.

Well she didn't.

She didn't care for Lee's new outfit, or Neji's new perverted nature. She didn't care that Choji was on a diet, and that Shikamaru got dropped on his head as a baby. She didn't care that Ino had a crush on Lee, and she didn't care that she felt so protective of the Blonde. She didn't care about any of it.

Because nothing was real!

"Stop!" Tenten covered her ears, and shouted so the whole village could hear her. She shoved her way through Lee and Neji and climbed up the stairs to the library. "You can keep chasing after me until hell freezes over, but I'm not giving in!"

xxx

Everything was so much easier when she was alone. It was a weird concept for someone who was trained to work as a team, but in this case it was true. Tenten had never been someone who spent all of her time in a library, but she could see the appeal.

Today the leaf village library was abandoned. As a result it was completely, and beautifully quiet. The smell of paper, the silence, the gentle breeze of air conditioning, it was all so perfect. Tenten felt good, maybe even relaxed.

Relaxed maybe, but not relaxing. She was using every moment of peace to make progress in her private little war. Currently she sat in the middle of a bunker of books. They were towered almost to her head, and she was going through them like mad. Genjutsu genjutsu genjutsu, everything she could find. Ocular genjutsu, the sharingan more specifically. Even in the real world the Uchiha kept information on their eyes secret, who knew what little information this world had on them. Still it was worth looking into, everything else about this world was so painstakingly accurate... why not the books?

After all of her studying came to a dead end she had a solid idea of what she was dealing with. A unique ocular jutsu, specific to the uchiha clan. Advanced beyond what even Sasuke was capable of. She was going to have to find a way to deal with the Uchiha.

She just had one last book to get through first. She thought it was unlikely that the last book would have all the secrets she needed... but what if it did?

She opened up the purple book only to find it hollowed out, with a beautiful red rose laying inside. Like the calling card of a masked vigilante.

"A beautiful rose for a beautiful woman." Suddenly Sasuke was upon her, so close but only one hand touched her, it cupped her chin ever so tenderly. From where Tenten was standing she could tell that the flower was not the only thing that smelled like roses. She felt his warmth, bathed in his gaze, and for a brief moment Tenten found Sasuke to be incredibly compelling. "Aww look at you my little kitten, you've got it bad."

Kitten?

Nyah! Tenten blushed, and tried not to cuddle closer. No one has ever called her beautiful before, this was a dream. The fact that it was Saskue was the weirdest part. To her he was a criminal for the majority of the time she'd known him. Now he was flirting with her? She'd never gotten what all the fuss was about, but that was before he was fussing over her. "Got, got what bad?"

He swirled her around, and she could have sworn rose petals swirled with her. "You're not eating, not sleeping, you don't want to talk. You're a love sick puppy."

Puppy?

Woof! The mixed metaphors were getting hard to track, but she was having fun. "I'm not love sick, I'm not angry, I'm trying to help my friends." It's just that at the moment she was having a hard time remembering how. There was a pitter pattering in her heart that was making it hard to think. She wanted information on the Uchiha right? Sasuke was an Uchiha, so she was looking for him? That felt right, he was so warm.

A hot panic shredded its way through her nervous system. She was forgetting something, and it was so important. The pitter pattering in her heart was drowning out a part of her, and Sasuke was so cute.

In her addled state she could only see two options. The first was to give up on whatever it was that she forgot, sink into Sasuke's arms, and go from there. That was the option that shot bright pink shards of panic into her stomach. That made her think it was a bad idea, despite Sasuke being so warm.

The other option was to grab a knife and to start cutting her way out. Her gut told her that, that was the right idea, but Sasuke was so cute, and his blood would be so warm.

She may have stayed in a state of complete indecision for the rest of eternity, were it not for an outside party saving her. Of course it was entirely possible that she didn't need saving. She may have been on the verge of a very powerful and heroic decision. However in this story that agency was not hers to take.

An incredible force hit Sasuke and sent him spiraling into the wall. Cracks spiderwebed their way through the masonry as Sasuke embedded into the wall. For a brief moment Tenten was afraid and cold.

Then clarity's sharp razor, shaved away the fuzz that had grown over her mind. The genjutsu! Of course. Her purpose for being here was erased in an instant by one boys gaze. This game was more dangerous than she'd been imagining. She would not be surprised again.

Now broken from her daze Tenten was able to see Sakura stand next to her with a closed fist clenched. "Sasuke you idiot! That wasn't part of the plan! Are you alright Tenten?"

She was so close to going to The Sunken Place, why would Sakura interrupt? It seemed like the illusion was helping her. Tenten had to fight back the urge to feel grateful towards the pinked haired ninja. It was probably a plot to make Tenten drop her defenses yet again. "I keep telling you to keep out of my way." She huffed, and hefted as many books into her arms as possible.

"You're not leaving already are you?" Sakura approached, her and looked oh so concerned.

"You're bothering me." Tenten grunted as she hit her limit with the books.

"Hey!" Sakura shouted, and it sounded twice as loud thanks to the silence of the library. "You're the one who's being rude. We're just worried about you!" She clenched her fists, and stormed towards Tenten.

To her side Tenten could see that Naruto was here now too, though is arms were crossed. He didn't look like he was a threat yet. Sakura was the one she was worried about, though she was prepared for this. She expected that if she pushed back aginst this world too much, it would start to get violent. It looks like she'd found its breaking point. Whatever, Tenten was ready. She dropped her books to the ground. Inside her sleeves were Kunai, and her scroll. More than enough weaponry to take down Sakura… maybe not her whole team though. Enough to buy her some time.

Luckily the arsenal wasn't needed, the dropped books were enough to stop Sakura in her tracks, and Tenten took a step back. "You can get in my way all you want, but I'm not giving up! I'm going to find a way back to my world." With that she launched herself backwards, into the depths of the book shelves. Hidden by their shadows, and covers. She left Sakura and company with nothing but concerned looks, and for some reason she couldn't shake them from her head for the rest of the day.

Xxx

Now it was sunset.

The day as well as solutions were slipping through her fingers. Kurenai who was the village's foremost expert on Genjutsu, had become a genjutsu fangirl. She's the only person she knew who'd actually fought an Uchiha, she'd know how to break out of this. Unfortunately it looked like the Illusion made sure she was useless to Tenten. She didn't want to do anything desperate, but Tenten was rapidly running out of options.

An assault on the Uchiha compound, Sasuke, or the scroll of sealing. Those were her only options.

She was up in a high spot. A series of star cases, which connected the lower parts of the village to the higher. From there you could see everything. Her favorite weapon shop, the ramen vendor, the guards, the gates, the forests, and on and on and on until a crimson red sun was just starting to think about ducking beneath the horizon. All those miles and miles of land, all exactly as she remembered it. Except it was better, this land was at peace.

Tenten rolled out the scroll, and looked to her weapons. They didn't look like much on paper, but they were the key to making her world as peaceful as this one.

Then they were gone.

In the blink of an eye, the scroll was gone from her hand. Snatched by quick hands, stolen.

Loss was quickly replaced with panic. Panic was the only thing keeping a roaring ocean of rage from bursting through her. She spun around and saw Hinata looking through the unfurled scroll. Tenten had never understood the meaning of 'seeing red' until now. The panic was gone, and now she was made of nothing but rage. "Give that back." The growled like an erupting volcano.

The Illusions were finally attacking her, stealing what she held most valuable. Her solution to this war, that was the final straw. Tenten was in a war, she was going to start acting like it.

"No!" Hinata barked. She curled the scroll back into a cylinder. "Everyone is worried about you, and you just keep yelling at them. Tell us straight what's going on, or I burn this thing." So this is what happens when the Genjutsu doesn't get it's way, cute.

Above them, or a separate set of stair was the entire gang. From Shino, to Ino, Naruto to Lee. Absolutely everyone. "Stop this Hinata, you're being too rough." Sakura shouted from her perch.

"Well what do you expect?" Hinata shouted back. "We're not getting anywhere otherwise!"

"You're upsetting her!"

That was it.

That was it.

That was it.

Tenten was done with these fakes pretending like they were real boys and girls. "Shut up!" None of them were real none of them. In her hands was an Axe, just one weapon of her many. She was more skilled her with a kunai, or a bo, but for this moment an Axe just felt right, felt good. If she couldn't talk these Illusions into leaving her alone, she'd make them. "If you won't give it to me, I'll take it back!"

With muscles that had been coiled all day she bolted towards Hinata. Her legs felt like they were releasing lightning, and within a second she was upon the black haired girl. Her heavy war Axe should have slowed her down, but if anything it felt like it was making her faster. It was thirsting for the blood of one of these fakes just as badly as she was. Hinata only had time to flinch before Tenten was to her, but Before Tenten could chop the woman in half, he blade was stopped.

Between the two Kunochi was Naruto, he held Tenten's Axe at bay with a Kunai, though it took an effort. "Calm down Tenten." With his free hand, he held out her scroll. A peace offering.

The two of them held a tense silence for seconds, maybe minutes before Tenen allowed her axe to vanish in a puff of smoke. She took the scroll and walked away without a second thought.

"Hey!" Menma called out, though he didn't yell the words. "That wasn't something you aim at friends. What's going on with you?"

Why did they all keep pretending? That was the most frustrating part of everything. It was starting to make her feel like a crazy person. They were all evil Illuisons, they knew they were! She'd have preferred if they just attacked her, at least then she wouldn't be flooded with the guilt that she felt every time she made on of them frown. "She deserved it." Tenten called out calmly, so that they all could hear. "None of you are my friends, you're just pretending. I didn't ask for any of you to worry about me." She was clenching her fist. "I'm going to get out of here, and none of you are going to stop me. This isn't where I belong. I don't care about you or this village."

"You're lying!" It wasn't Menma who was speaking anymore, it was Lee. He'd jumped from his perch, and was now on the ground floor with Tenten, Menma, and Hinata. "That's not the kind of person you are. I know you care about us, and this village." His feet were digging into the ground, and his eyes were welling up with tears.

He was so hurt by her. That's all Tenten could think about. All of her friends were here, and they were worried for her, and hurt by her. They all frowned, their eyebrows knitted into concerned glares. She'd so rarely disappointed anyone, and now she was disappointing everyone. It broke her heart to see them all like this.

But she turned her back on them anyway.

She had to.

She was going to save everyone.


	6. I Take A Step Back

It was easy to keep hope, for a day, maybe even three, but two weeks? That's when it got hard.

Tenten supposed that's why she was on the roof of her apartment building, on the fourteenth day of her imprisonment.

It'd been two weeks and she'd hardly made any headway. She wasn't worried about the outside world. From the massive amount of studying she'd done on genjutsu she knew that time within illusions passed much slower than on the outside. To her weeks had passed, but it could have been minutes on the outside.

She was worried about herself, her abilities more accurately. She'd performed the genjutsu release hundreds of times, read through dozens of tomes and consulted every expert she could. Nothing. All her leads led to options she wasn't prepared to take on. She'd done the work, and she knew what she needed to do next, she just couldn't.

It wasn't that she didn't have the will, or the nerve to do what needed to be done, she just wasn't capable.

It was a feeling she'd grown uncomfortably used to. Not being capable. For all her time as a ninja she'd never been the strongest, fastest or flashiest. She'd always just been a middle of the road ninja, average, not a hero.

She knew in her world Naruto had stolen the scroll of sealing before he was even a genin. Itachi had wiped out the Uchiha clan when he was just a kid.

But Tenten wasn't either of them. She was only herself, which had never been a problem before. It just seemed that having the world depending on you, put all of your flaws into a crystal clarity.

With angel like grace, Tenten hefted herself up onto the railing. With utter ease she balanced herself along the thin metal bar, despite the wind whipping her sleeves around. She wanted to be calm, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She looked down to the street below, it may not have been far, but it was deadly enough.

"It isn't real, it isn't real, it isn't real." Tenten held her eyes tight, and tried not to look below. As real as everything looked, it was hard to just throw herself off. She'd never been in a genjutsu so real, so aimless. They always had a point, to scare or to tortue. This place was nothing, it just existed, and as long as it did she was trapped here.

This was the only way.

She felt her own weight heavily on the bar. Just one step and it was over. She'd die in the illusion and awaken in the real world. She was sure, she was so close to being sure.

She'd spoken to Kurenai earlier that day, and suggested it. If you couldn't break yourself out of a Genjutsu with your own chakra, sometimes a great shock would wake you up. In this case, her own death. But Kurenai had warned her, that this method could end up with Tenten dying in the real world. The shock would shut down her brain in both realities… in both worlds.

It was a lie, probably. Tenten didn't remember hearing anything about that in the real world, but she never knew that much to begin with. The Kurenai in this world wasn't a ninja of the leaf village, she was a minion of Madara. She would do anything to keep Tenten in this world. Lying about an escape method was certainly within her capabilities.

It was a lie! It had to be.

Tenten stared down at the ground below, her heart still pounding. The height wasn't even real, and still her instincts told her that she was in dire danger. But it was a lie.

This whole world was.

It had to be, everything just felt so wrong.

And yet.

Below her the villagers and Ninjas of her home town went about their business as they always had. Just the way she remembered them. Picture perfect almost. So exact, not hazy, or serene, this place felt like a world, her world.

"It's not real. It's not real…" She began chanting it with confidence but as her words went on they devolved into sobs, desperate sobs.

Off into the village she could see Sakura and Ino walking together through a crowd. None of them had tried talking to her after the fight with Hinata. Every time she ran into someone they looked away, and quickly went in the other direction. She'd finally got what she wanted, but it didn't feel like a victory. She actually felt bad! She'd hurt their feelings, and somehow she ended up feeling like the bad guy! Illusions didn't have feelings, they didn't feel sad, and yet these people, her friends emoted so genuinely. They hurt, and they bled, and she'd been the one to cut them. The conflict she felt within herself was immense.

She could put an end to it though, she had the power.

One step.

Then she was free.

Free of these fakes, and their illusions.

Just free.

If it was an Illusion, if they were fake, if she was sane, if she didn't die, if the Illusion would even end with her death.

If, if, if.

So much doubt, her heart slowed.

Her heart, and he body grew calm and relaxed. She no longer felt in danger, her instincts were calmed.

Because she was no longer on the ledge.

Tenten didn't jump.

Because, she decided (even for just a moment) that she couldn't be entirely sure this was an Illusion after all.

Xxx

The dumpling house smelled divine, just like the one back home. Even now she couldn't help it marvel at how perfectly recreated everything was. The smell, the taste, the pots of bubbling oil. Even the patrons were the same. Same regulars, same chef, even the strangers who'd she'd never seen before were the same.

The similarities between her world and this one disgusted her, but today they did not. She felt alone, and the dumplings tasted like home. Comfort food, for a heart in sore need.

She must have looked like she was in need of this moment. Which was annoying, she didn't want to look as bad as she felt. Sad, tired, hopeless, nothing that she wanted to show to the outside word, and yet.

"Excuse me Miss." Standing across from her, was a man. Not young not old, neither handsome nor ugly. He was generic, but had sharp kind eyes, and a wide cat like smile. He wore a rice paddy hat, even indoors, and carried on his back a backpack that looked like it was weighed down heavily. "You're the girl that was arguing with those ninjas the other day aren't you?" He waggled his finger in a friendly, and recognizing way.

Tenten wanted to blush, and hide herself away. Even if these people weren't real, she didn't want anyone to see her flying off the handle like she had. Especially in public, it was trashy. She slide and sunk into her chair. "Yeah that was me."

He tutted, and gave a gentleish smile. "Are you always in a bad mood, or is this an unusual thing for you?"

For that, Tenten wanted to smack him, but she was in too bad of a mood to even bother. "It's a recent thing." She was usually a cheerful person.

With a nod from his wide hat, he sat down across from her, and for once Tenten relished the company. Talking to a complete stranger was a lot easier than talking to the clones of her friends. "What happened?"

Boy oh boy, what a loaded question. Tenten was having a heck of a time trying to figure out that same thing. "I'm trying to find a way to break a genjutsu placed by a stronger shinobi, if there even is a way."

The man's eyes brightened, with interest, and maybe even admiration. This sudden surge of information seemed to thrill him, and he leaned forward in his seat. Tenten could hear the sound of pots and pans clattering against the inside of his pack. "You know, I think I've heard something about that."

"Really?" If Tenten was suspicious, you shouldn't blame her.

"Hey don't look so surprised! When you travel around the world, you hear all sorts of things." He took a hand and started fumbling through his pack. "I'm pretty sure I heard something about a Genjutsu master living in the hidden rain village. He's the world's foremost expert on the subject, if the rumors are to be believed." He pulled out from his pack a scroll of rolled up parchment. "Here." He held out the scroll to Tenten. "A map of to The Hidden Rain Village."

"Wow!" Tenten chirped and held the scroll in her hand, what a break! It was so convenient! Too good to be true, even. "But why?"

Now the man's faced turned downcast. A frown folded over his lips, and he sighed. "I guess I just know what it's like to be far away from home."

Xxx Author's notes xxX

A big moment! Tenten starts to doubt if the world is even fake! OR she just decided that killing herself could be a dangerous solution, even then she chose to believe a denizen of the world over her own instincts.

I'm trying to just thrash through the last 15 minutes of the anime, so I can start building my own story!

Shout out to Krazywriter, and who waited TWO YEARS, for the last chapter, and both read it the first day it was out XD. Hopefully it won't be two years until the next chapter.


End file.
